Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Sayonara Kansas City!

To all my friends in Kansas City...

We had so much fun memories together and it's so hard to say goodbye!

Thank you for having the last party at our house after the farewell lunch (8/23). The girls had a chance at the party to play with their playmates (Amanda, justin, Sara, Brielle & Carrie) for one last time. We are definitely going to miss you all and all the fun parties.

We really treasure every moment around you all. The Sunday dim sum lunch at Bo Ling's was supposed to be our last gathering with all friends that stayed in town for the Labor day weekend. However, we hoped for another gathering, so we planned for the dinner at Sakura. After the dinner, we still unwilling to say goodbye, so we went to Adrian & Diana's house for ice cream. Finally, it's time and we reluctantly said goodbye to each other.

We are now in Greenville and hoping some of you can visit us here in the future. We will never forget you...

Stay in touch...

Monday, August 4, 2008

Is it Monday or Saturday?

It's been a while since I last posted a blog. I was busy and lazy....:P

It's Monday today and it felt like Saturday because I had quit last Friday and do not need to go to work today! Last night I went online to browse Kwee Eng's paintings and her New Zealand's trip. I aslo visited Sok Kem's professional photograph at Multiply. I envy they can do what they like. One travels around and paints and the other travels around and shoots.

I don't even know what I can do at free time, except sleep...:)

Jamie had an interview this morning and he is on his way back to KC. He told me on the phone that the interview went well and he should be hearing from the company soon. I am very excited to hear that and looks like we will be moving to Greenville together next month. I keep my finger crossed for this...

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Athena's School's International Day






In order for Athena to know more about our home country Malaysia, Jamie and I decided to participate in the International Day held by Athena's school. Only to realise that we do not collect items related to Malaysia so I have to borrow all from friends. The event was quite successful and many kids and their parents have visited our booth and have had interests to learn about Malaysia. Most rewarding to us would be Athena gaining knowledge about Malaysia and she tried to explain "Wau" (Malaysian kite) and "Wayang kuit"(shadow puppet) to other kids. My only hope is that Athena and Nelia will always remember our home country...




Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Winter Vacation 12/18-12/31

We used our Worldmark by Wyndham Time Share credits for our 2-week long vacation in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria, BC. About 6000 credits came from the Friends Referral Program when our friends attended the presentation in Nov. 2006. Each couple was given a $30 gas card, a 3 days resort stay (choice of Las Vegas, Reno Nevada or Orlando) and a round trip air fare just for attending (none of them made a purchase). Thanks to that we are able to have 15100 credits for all the 11 nights stay. Then we used Marriott Rewards to exchange 2 nights stay in Seattle.

We arrived at Seattle and headed to the Avis to get our rental car. We reserved a midsize car but was given a Ford Mustang, and later given a Chevy Uplander van without additional charges. The girls were happy to hop on that van. That was a pretty good start! The first stop is the Pike Place Market. It's like a "pasar" in Malaysia, where you can find seafood, fresh produce, hand crafts, and more. Athena and Nelia were very excited to see the big salmons and dungeness crabs piling high on ice. After lunch at an Athenian Inn restaurant (where part of Sleepless In Seattle was filmed), we headed to the Space Needle. It started to drizzle a little and temperature dropped quickly. So we took a quick walk around the Space Needle and checked into TownPlace Marriott.

We spent the next 2 nights in Discovery Bay, one of the Worldmark resort at waterfront. We visited places like the Olympic Game Farm, Lake Crescent, totem at S'Klallam Tribe, Port Townsend, shopping at a lavender farm, and took an Olympic mountains scenic drive.

Then we drove to Birch Bay for another 2 nights. On our way, we stopped at Tacoma and visited the Museum of Glass, and had dinner at Freighthouse Square. At Birch Bay, it was cold and we couldn't spent too long on the beach. We just took pictures and drove around to admire the scenery and variety of birds. After the morning drive around the area, we went to Lynden, a Dutch town. There we tasted very delicious Dutch Pannekoeken aka pancake, it's about 15" in diameter. Although the temperature at night was close to 3oF, we still headed to the swimming pool and spa for a dip after dinner. The swimming pool was warm and half covered. The spa is much warmer although it's located outdoor. So, all 4 of us soaked in the spa and enjoy the round bright moon that night.

The next 4 days we stayed at Worldmark Resort in downtown Vancouver. Beautiful 2 bedroom condo on the 20th floor with stunning view of the downtown especially at night. During our stay we visited Grouse Mountain, Vancouver Aquarium, Capilano Suspension Bridge, China Town, Canada Place and a short walk around downtown. One thing we noticed is that there is a Starbucks Coffee Shop every block. The best food we had there was Shao Lin Noodle (Thanks to Jim for recommending that) and fresh "tofu fah".

On 12/27, we took the BC ferry to the Vancouver Island and drove to Victoria. 2 out of 3 days in Victoria was raining and cold. So we could only took a short walked at the Inner Harbor and visited the Empress Hotel and Craigdarroch Castle. It was actually quite relaxing towards the end of the vacation.

On 12/30, we headed back to Seattle and stayed at TownPlace Marriott again. Then we flew back to KC on 12/31. Jamie's mom, Carol and Lena had prepared steam boat dinner for everyone. We sure were glad to be back. The vacation was fun but we missed the "free" parking with no hassle, no traffic jam and cheap food.


Here's a photobook from our trip: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNmbJw4cM2P6 Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

My Birthday!!

When I suspect Jamie is planning a surprise party for me, I immediately call him to call it off. Well, he denied at first but finally admitted and told me he would cancel the surprise party as it's not a surprise anymore.
He said we will celebrate my birthday for the whole weekend. So my birthday celebration started on Friday evening. We went to Ameristar Casino for my favorite crab leg buffet. Saturday, I picked a Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner. We had never been to this place so I asked him to look for the address which is posted at a Korean grocery store. So we drove to the store, bought some instant noodles and checked out the address. Then we drove to the restaurant. When we were at the restaurant, our friends came in to surprise me... Apparently, Jamie already knew the address of that place and informed our friends to join us there to give me a big birthday "SURPRISE"! After the dinner we went to WS & KW's house for cake cutting. I was really touched and of course happy to have friends and family joined me to celebrate this mile-stone. Thanks to all!

See the pictures here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatWjJw2cM2WB

Friday, June 1, 2007

Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake


8 adults and 2 kids spent a Malaysian style Memorial Weekend at Lake of Ozarks.

Why is it Malaysian style? Because we had Malaysian food everyday..:)

First day we arried at Osage Beach and shopped at the Outlet Malls. At night we enjoyed BBQ "Ayam Percik" and "Ayam Tandoori" together with Ghee Rce, Pineapple Acar and Yogurt Salad for dinner..... hmm just thought about it makes me hungry..:P

2nd day we had Roti Canai with Sambal and Dhal for breakfast. Angela even made me a special Roti Telur...:) Then we went on the pontoon and drove around the lake enjoying the scenery and trying to spot *#@ at Party Cove..:) We also rented a jet-ski and highlights was that Yew Wee was ditched by Patricia (How can I not mention that?). KFC for lunch and Nasi Lemak with Curry Ayam for dinner.

3rd day morning we celebrated Athena's birthday and have yummy caramel pecan custard ice-cream cake for breakfast. Then we had leftovers - Acar, KFC, Roti Canai, Curry Ayam, Sambal & more for brunch. After checked out from the resort, we went to the outlet malls again before heading home. Everyone found something(or lots of things?) at the mall.

For pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatWjJw2cM2UJ

That's was a really fun trip!!

Athena's Graduation (5/18)




Hi all!! Athena graduated from Pre-K and I am a proud mom..:) This August she will attend Kindergarten at Clear Creek Elementary. Here are some of her graduation pictures to share with you.....

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatWjJw2cM2T3